Awkward
by Always a Bookworm
Summary: Yuugi had no idea where Ryou had gone, but it hurt to think that his friend was avoiding him. But, then again, Ryou had his reasons. It was just too awkward to be around him. Written for contest.


**Hello again! This one is heartshipping (YuugixRyou) written for contest.**

**Pairing: YuugixRyou**

**Summary: Yuugi had no idea where Ryou had gone, but it hurt to think that his friend was avoiding him. But, then again, Ryou had his reasons. **

**Warnings: Fluff. And boyxboy. (Wow, never had to say that before. Totally new experience!)**

**AN: I wasn't sure about whether Yuugi's father was dead or not, and where Ryou's Mum and sister were buried, so if I got anything wrong then it's just for the purpose of the fic. Yeah, I may have changed their stories slightly.... *Grins guiltily***

**This was... difficult. I'm not sure I like the finished result, but I do hope I kept from making it too angsty. This is such a sweet pairing, but virtually all the ideas I had were really depressing- it was very annoying! But I did enjoy writing it when I got the idea, so I hope you enjoy reading! ^^**

**_Note- Italics are flashbacks._**

* * *

Yuugi was looking for Ryou.

He'd been doing this for some time. All day in fact, the small boy thought in frustration. Who would have thought that it was so easy to hide in a school?

I mean, it's not like I haven't _seen_ him, Yuugi thought as he trailed down yet another corridor on his determined search. I've seen him in the distance, but as soon as he saw me he paled and dashed off in the opposite direction. And in the lessons I had with him he sat as far away from me as possible and ignored me the entire time.

Yuugi sighed forlornly. It just didn't make sense. He racked his brains to find some way that he could have offended his shy friend in the past few days, but he couldn't think of anything.

Ryou isn't like this!, Yuugi insisted to himself. He's not a mean person; he wouldn't be avoiding me if there wasn't something seriously wrong.

Outside the sky was cloudy, and Yuugi paused to watch as drops of rain began to spatter the school courtyard.

*

_The white haired boy stood just outside the doorway of the Game shop, grinning sheepishly at his friend. Rain pelted his arms and face, trickling down his neck and dripping from the ends of his hair. His clothes clung to his skin, and every time there was the slightest breeze he shivered. All in all, he was completely drenched._

"_Ryou… what… how… what?!" Yuugi stammered in surprise at the soaked boy in front of him. _

_Ryou smiled at him innocently. "Hi, Yuugi. I, um, got a bit wet."_

"_State the obvious, why don't you!" Yuugi said, pulling him inside. "You'll get pneumonia!" he said, worriedly, as he hustled Ryou towards the warm kitchen._

"_What were you doing, anyway?" Yuugi asked, after Ryou had changed into some of his spare clothes and was curled up on the sofa literally buried in blankets with a mug of steaming hot chocolate. "Did you get caught in the rain?"_

_Ryou blinked at him. "No… I was just standing outside. In the park. I love the rain."_

_All Yuugi could do was to stare at his friend because of his extremely odd habits, and then laugh._

_*_

Yuugi couldn't help but smile at the memory. Ryou's obsession with rain, he thought as he began to climb another staircase, is just plain weird. I can understand being obsessed with games, but rain… Ah, well. That's Ryou, I guess. If I hadn't already checked the roof, I'd be there in an instant.

Where could he be? Okay, Yuugi, think. Ryou's been your friend for years now. If you were Ryou, where would you go…

Yuugi stood still for a few seconds, pondering this, until his face lit up and he hurried up the stairs towards the library.

*

"_Ryou, Ryou! Wake up!" Yuugi hissed under his breath, nudging his friend frantically. _

_The boy raised his head from the desk just long enough to say sleepily, "Five more minutes…" before his head was resting on his arms again and he was fast asleep._

_Yuugi looked pleadingly at his friends across the room. He won't wake up!, he mouthed to Jou. It was only a matter of time before their Maths teacher noticed__, and then Ryou would be in so much trouble. He's such a deep sleeper! Yuugi thought in frustration._

_Jou stifled a laugh, and mimed a sharp jabbing motion back to Yuugi. Yuugi glared at him. I'm not going to poke Ryou! he mouthed back. That's so mean! To which Jou shrugged and replied, Nothing much else you can do._

_So Yuugi rolled his eyes, and elbowed Ryou as hard as he could in the side. Unfortunately this meant Ryou jolted up with a start, and in the process clipped Yuugi round the ear with his head. Amazingly, they both managed to keep their cries of pain (in Yuugi's case) and surprise (in Ryou's case) to themselves so the teacher didn't turn away from the board and continued to drone about…. Well, whatever he was talking about._

_Ryou, with wide eyes, whispered profuse apologies to Yuugi, who was clutching his throbbing ear and trying not to giggle._

"_Oh, Yuugi, I'm so sorry… I was just startled when I woke up, I didn't know you were so close… I didn't mean to hit you… I'm really sorry!"_

"_Don't worry about it," Yuugi whispered. "I'm fine. Um, just out of interest, why are you so tired?"_

_Ryou yawned as he reached for his textbook. "I was up till reading," he whispered back. "I just couldn't put my book down!"_

_Yuugi ducked his head to hide his smile. He should have known that it would have something to do with books. Ryou really did love to read._

_*_

Yuugi poked his head around the door of the library and scanned the room rapidly. Nope, not there, he thought in disappointment.

Politely, he asked the librarian if Ryou Bakura had been in the library (Ryou was in there so often all of the librarians knew him by sight). Apparently, he _had_ been there, and had left just a few minutes before.

Yes! Yuugi thought, triumphantly as he left the library. I'm on his trail, and I'll soon catch him!

But as to where he had gone… Yuugi sighed in irritation and began to walk aimlessly down yet another corridor. The school bell rang suddenly and jolted him out of his thoughts. The end of the day, Yuugi thought, dully, and then gasped as he realised what that meant. He dashed to the nearest window and…. Yes, sure enough, there was Ryou hurrying across the yard to the school gates. Ryou always left school as soon as he could.

As he watched his friend turn the corner and disappear from sight, Yuugi felt a twinge in his chest. It hurt that Ryou was ignoring him, especially considering that they were usually such close friends. But the fact that they were such close friends had a very important bonus- Yuugi knew exactly where Ryou would go. He would go to the same place that he went every day after school.

Determinedly, Yuugi turned on his heel and raced down to the school exit.

*

"_Ryou?" The white haired boy started, and whipped around to find himself staring into the pair of huge purple eyes that could only belong to one person._

"_Yuugi?" he asked, in confusion. "What are you doing here?" Of all the people he'd expected to meet at the graveyard, it hadn't been Yuugi._

_Yuugi smiled sadly. "My dad's buried over there." He gestured towards the bouquet of flowers in his hand. "I've just come to visit him."_

"_Oh." There was an awkward silence between the two for a couple of moments, before Ryou murmured softly, "I'm so sorry."_

_Yuugi smiled again, but it was a tired smile, a miserable smile, a smile that Ryou knew too well. He wore it himself often enough, but his heart twisted to see that smile on such a good, innocent person as Yuugi._

"_Don't worry. He died when I was very young; I can barely remember him." Yuugi sighed, and stared at his feet. "Although I sometimes wish… I wish I had had a chance to know him. I wish I'd met him properly. All my memories of him are hazy." _

_Ryou remained silent, shifting his weight so that he was almost sitting on a crooked headstone._

"_I don't know why I'm telling you this, I'm sorry," Yuugi suddenly mumbled, and began to turn away, but he was stopped by the soft voice murmuring:_

"_I know what you mean. I barely know my dad at all, which is terrible, considering I still have the chance."_

_Yuugi sighed, and leaned against the headstone next to Ryou. "It's not your fault that he's always away, Ry. Don't blame yourself. He's the one who's missing out on knowing his amazing son."_

_Ryou snorted in laughter. "Thanks, Yuugi. But I'm not sure he views me that way. He hates having me as a son. I'm a big disappointment to him."_

_As he said this, he leaned forward so that his hair fell around his face, and hid his expression. Yuugi knew that he wasn't crying, because Ryou never cried anymore, but he still put a comforting arm around his friend's shoulders._

"_If he's not proud of you, then he's stupid," Yuugi said, fiercely. _

_Ryou looked at him and smiled. "Your dad is proud of you too, you know. And Atemu. I'll bet they're sitting up there in heaven boasting about you to everyone who'll listen."_

_Yuugi laughed at this, a real laugh. _

_It was silent for a few minutes, until something occurred to Yuugi. "Ryou, what are __you__ doing here?"_

_Ryou stiffened, and after a pause muttered softly, "Amane and Mama aren't buried here, but this is just the sort of place they'd love- on the top of a hill, lots of flowers, beautiful views…. And you see that statue of an angel? That's similar to the one above their graves. I dunno, I guess I just feel closer to them up here. I mean, their real graves are too far away for me to visit, so this'll have to do."_

_It was Yuugi's turn to have his heart twist in his chest. It wasn't fair what this boy had to go through, Yuugi thought angrily. Just not fair._

_He didn't say anything, apart from tightening his grip around the other boy. After a few moments, Ryou tentatively leaned his head onto Yuugi's shoulder._

_They stayed like that for some time, just gazing out over the city from the graveyard on the hill, and remembering._

_After that, Yuugi went with Ryou almost every day to the graveyard. _

_*_

Yuugi pushed open the creaking iron wrought gate to the cemetery and began to walk towards the blossom tree where Ryou's angel stood. It was a beautiful place, really. Flowers were everywhere, and birds nested in the trees that were dotted between the graves. The rain had stopped, and now a watery sunlight was shining down onto the hill.

But Yuugi had seen it all before, and he only had eyes for the lone figure leaning against the crooked headstone, gazing at the stone angel.

"Hi, Ryou," Yuugi said, quietly.

Just as he had all that time ago, Ryou whipped around and stared at Yuugi in shock.

"Yuugi?" he whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Yuugi shrugged, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Wanted to see you, and I knew you'd be here."

Ryou went even paler (which was quite an impressive feat) and avoided Yuugi's hurt look.

"Why have you been avoiding me? What could I have done? I thought we were friends," Yuugi stepped closer to the other boy, with a confused look in his eyes.

"We are friends, Yuugi," Ryou sighed, turning away from Yuugi. "But… things are complicated right now."

"Why?" Yuugi asked in frustration.

"You want to know why?" Ryou glanced at Yuugi, eyes dull.

"Well, yeah," Yuugi laughed, "That's why I've been trying to find you all day!"

Ryou didn't laugh. "I like you. A lot."

Yuugi blinked, and then grinned. "Um… okay. I like you, too. I mean, we're friends. Friends are supposed to like each other- that's kind of the point."

Ryou half-smiled and shook his head. "No, no. I like you… in a different way."

Yuugi tried to work out what on earth Ryou was talking about. For several moments there was silence, until Yuugi's mouth fell open in surprise.

"You… like boys?"

Ryou nodded.

"You're gay?"

Ryou continued to nod.

"Homosexual?"

"I'm pretty sure you're repeating yourself."

Yuugi blushed, and remained staring at Ryou in confusion until something dawned on him.

"Wait… you said you like me. You … like… me?"

Ryou rolled his eyes in amusement. "You can be a tad slow on the uptake, Yuugi. Yes, I like you. That's why I've been avoiding you, because then hopefully this stupid crush will go away, and we can be friends again."

But to Ryou's surprise instead of Yuugi looking relieved, he actually looked rather upset.

"It's a 'stupid' crush?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it wouldn't work out. You're straight for one…"

But he never managed to finish that sentence, because, before he knew it, Yuugi was kissing him.

Okay, maybe he's not straight, Ryou thought, slightly dazed, until he decided that he probably shouldn't be complaining about this fact when someone that he was madly in love with was kissing him for the first time.

When they finally broke apart Yuugi immediately became very interested in the ground, and Ryou was bright red.

Awkward silence reigned.

"You, you kissed me." Ryou said, slowly, the blush on his cheeks darkening.

Yuugi nodded.

"You like boys too?"

More nodding (although he was still staring at the ground as if his life depended on it.)

"So… you're gay?"

Here Yuugi decided to interrupt. "I think we've had this conversation before, Ryou."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

"So, we both like guys."

"Pretty good summary of the situation."

"And I like you. Do… do you like me?"

Yuugi had stopped staring at the ground and was now studying a nearby tree. "Yes, I think I do."

Ryou smiled, and leaned forward to take Yuugi's hand. "Well, that's good."

Looking down at their clasped hands, Yuugi grinned as well.

"It is."

After (yet another) awkward pause. Yuugi asked, "So, do you want to go get a coffee, or something?"

Ryou just nodded, still smiling, and they walked slowly out of the graveyard, so close that they kept hitting each others arms, and mumbling apologies.

They were just an awkward couple.


End file.
